I started genealogical research in 1970 when I asked my grandmother to take me to the cemeteries around Imperial, PA, and show me the graves of my ancestors.

I taught at Texas A&M-Galveston for 31 years, so much of my genealogical work was done during short vacations to visit Dad and Mom in Coraopolis, PA, in the summer and at Christmas. Fortunately I got Dad interested in family history and much of what I have in my files is material he gathered.

When I retired, I returned to western Pennsylvania, which I had always planned to do, so I could once again enjoy hills, fall color change, and all the beauty of the area.

Besides the Harper clan, I'm researching the Hoffman, Scharpf, Schick, Burns, Crooks, Ball, Langfitt, Donaldson, and McBride families that have roots in western Penna., and the Seesing family of my late wife, the Hartley, Ladd, Gunn families of my late ex-wife, the Smith family of my son-in-law, and the Gouly family of my wife.

I am a strong believer that a memorial ought to be much more than a birth date, death date, and place of burial, so I am striving to create biographies of everyone in my extended families. And to connect children with parents to create seamless lineages back to the earliest ancestors known.

Find a Grave has been incredibly helpful in tracing relatives.

Photos posted on FaG are available for use by anyone who wants to use them.

I started genealogical research in 1970 when I asked my grandmother to take me to the cemeteries around Imperial, PA, and show me the graves of my ancestors.

I taught at Texas A&M-Galveston for 31 years, so much of my genealogical work was done during short vacations to visit Dad and Mom in Coraopolis, PA, in the summer and at Christmas. Fortunately I got Dad interested in family history and much of what I have in my files is material he gathered.

When I retired, I returned to western Pennsylvania, which I had always planned to do, so I could once again enjoy hills, fall color change, and all the beauty of the area.

Besides the Harper clan, I'm researching the Hoffman, Scharpf, Schick, Burns, Crooks, Ball, Langfitt, Donaldson, and McBride families that have roots in western Penna., and the Seesing family of my late wife, the Hartley, Ladd, Gunn families of my late ex-wife, the Smith family of my son-in-law, and the Gouly family of my wife.

I am a strong believer that a memorial ought to be much more than a birth date, death date, and place of burial, so I am striving to create biographies of everyone in my extended families. And to connect children with parents to create seamless lineages back to the earliest ancestors known.

Find a Grave has been incredibly helpful in tracing relatives.

Photos posted on FaG are available for use by anyone who wants to use them.